Six games to go, all on the road. It starts at Wrigley Field for the Pirates, where they can possibly clinch a playoff spot tonight. The thing is, they really don’t want that to happen. They want to win, of course, but to clinch tonight, they’d also need the Nats to lose, and the Nats are playing the Cardinals. It’s not quite time to give up all hope for the Central just yet…the Nats have played great ball lately and could certainly win a series in St Louis. That would allow the Pirates to gain ground this week if they take care of business at Wrigley. And that’s all they need to worry about right now. The Reds host the Mets, so they have a good chance to gain ground as well.

Charlie’s incredible outing against the Padres was overlooked last week because Mark Melancon blew the save. It may have been Chuck’s best start of the year, which says a lot since he’s been quite good in the second half. Tonight he looks to take the success on the road, which may not be easy because he had a somewhat rocky start against the Cubs in his previous start.

Samardzija owned the Pirates last year and at the beginning of this season, but the Pirates hit him hard the last two times they faced him. The rest of the league has figured him out as well – he’s had a very disappointing year after being appointed the ace of the Cubs’ staff. He’s still liable to strike out a bunch, though, and we know the Pirates are always vulnerable to that.